Bless The Lord, O My Soul!
- Jeevan Babu Olesu
"Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits" - Psalm 103:1-2
My Precious Brothers and Sisters,
What do you think when you see someone who is talking to himself? What if you heard someone talking aloud to his soul? How would you respond? We often speak to others and encourage them from the Word of God, but do we stop and encourage our own souls as well?
Psalm 103 is a beautiful reminder for us of what we need to do and what our souls should be doing. This is a really heart-touching song. Whenever I sing this song in English or in my heart language Telugu, my heart is reminded to stop and remember all that God has done and praise Him for everything He does. We are singing the song not for people to hear, but to remind our souls to submit to God. David wrote this psalm as a reminder to him and his soul that there is a God who forgives sins, heals our bodies, and redeems us. David reminded his soul not to forget His benefits. He renews us just like a young man again. We have strength from Him every day. This is like a crown everyday. God is alive and full of mercy and loving kindness (v. 8). What a wonderful God we have!
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How many times do we forget to thank Him for all that He has done? We may get busy and forget to bless His holy name. When we get up, things may get in our way and we may forget to begin our day by glorifying Him. However, when we wake up we should remind our souls that there is a God and we should bless His name for this life He has given. When we close the day, we should stop and thank Him for each beautiful day and for friends, family, and each of the blessings He pours on us every day. We are prone to forget, but this psalm should remind us to stop and thank Him. Maybe sometimes there are bad things that happen or bad things we are going through, but this song reminds us that we need to stop and thank God for all that He has done. It reminds us of God’s forgiveness and grace (v. 10), His compassion, and that He views us as His children (v.13). When we are facing something tough, we can be in a habit of thankfulness. We can look back and see how God has been faithful and blessed us so abundantly, and that will give us hope and encouragement for the future in both the good and difficult times.
God has created us to have a relationship with Him. We need to stop and remember that we have a living God and thank Him for everything He has done, and use this beautiful psalm as a reminder to our souls to stop and bless the Lord. Bless the Lord, o my soul. Bless the Lord.
Prayer:
Heavenly Father,
Bless You, Lord, for Your great love, compassion, grace, forgiveness, and tender care. Thank You for all the times You have rescued us, healed us, and blessed us. Please forgive us for all the times that we have failed to bless and glorify You. Please teach our souls to bless You always and help us be like David who reminded his soul to praise You. Amen.